“I Don’t Know What They’re Saying But I Like It!”

This is what I would always hear when I was on Aux in college. Whether I was playing the newest from mainstream hitmakers like Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Ozuna or playing little known bangers from new artists like Lunay, Rauw Alejandro, or Lyanno.

When you saw the name of this blog, I’m sure your immediate assumption was that this was a Spanish blog about Spanish music. Well, you’re partially correct. This is a blog about Latin music. But, this blog will be exclusively English. Why? Well, the headline should be a clue.

While I was in college (I graduated in 2019), I made it my mission to introduce as many people as possible to Latin music. I grew up in a household where my Spanish father would fill the house with songs from Julio Iglesias, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Carlos Vives (to name just a few). More often than not, he’d be singing along. As I grew, I discovered my own way and developed my own taste in music. I also blew A LOT of money on iTunes. I was always known as the “Music Guy” in my group of friends. It’s a role I was more than thrilled to have.

As I went off to college in the middle of the US, in a town with an incredibly low Spanish-speaking population, I knew there wouldn’t be a large number with similar tastes in music. I expected a lot of people who loved country music and/or rap. I was right. I met a lot of people who didn’t have much of a background or history with Spanish speaking people, much less Hispanic/Latin culture. Most would tell me, “Oh I took Spanish in high school but I don’t remember anything”. So, that’s what I was up against. Whenever I would take over the Aux at a pregame or a party, I was the ambassador for an entire genre of music that most people had never heard before.

I fulfilled that role with some success. By the end of my collegiate career, I had introduced all of my friends to Latin music and converted most of them into fans. Even the most stubborn of my friends would ask me to play some of the songs I introduced them to. Maybe more significantly, I introduced at least a dozen of my friends to salsa music and more importantly, salsa dancing. Salsa Saturdays with me became something of a hot ticket amongst some of my friends. Before I knew it, my friends were bringing their other friends. Even though we all graduated and went our separate ways, I still get pictures and videos of friends taking their friends to salsa nights. Most of these friends spoke little to no Spanish and had no experience with Hispanic/Latin culture (beyond tacos, burritos, and margaritas) but they still found a way to not only enjoy the music and culture, but to incorporate it into their lives.

So that’s what my aim with this blog is. I’m not in college anymore and COVID has slowed my social life down (to say the least) so this is the best way I can see to continue to spread this culture and to introduce new people to it. I have some ideas of how we’ll build this out and how we’ll build a community here. I hope that this blog serves as an entry into Latin music for people who don’t necessarily speak Spanish. I hope this blog can help inspire the same reaction that headlines this post.

I don’t know what they’re saying, but I like it!